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In the ruins of Tharask, Lemurian City of Hope, the Night Sea of Sub-Terra

Tharask had been empty for centuries long before the Great Cataclysm destroyed Lemuria and her human twin. But in its highest tower, in the heart of the Drowned Citadel, the voices of serpents resounded.

The robes glimmered in the emerald light of the torches, a light reflected dully in the golden eyes of the procession being described around the bloodied circle. Thin, hissing voices rose and fell in song as scaled arms tipped by claws brandished wreathes of bone and weapons of obsidian glass.

As the serpent people sang, the light of the torches changed, first to a healthy, ruddy orange, then deeper and deeper into a sickly, nauseating red. The golden eyes were eclipsed as slitted pupils expanded to draw in more light, the sibilant voices grew louder and faster, a savage tempo building as the eldritch forces at work began to work their will on the world.

Suddenly, with a blinding flash and a peal like thunder, the thin fabric of the world was torn away, flinging a being from another world into the circle!

<"It works, it works!"> they cried jubilantly, dancing with glee as their leader, resplendent in a crown and robes adorned with sea dragon fangs, swept into view of the new arrival. He pointed a staff topped with a gilded skull at them.

<"Demon of the void,"> he began, before pausing, eyes squinting dubiously. Something was...strange about this demon. They were more human-looking than most, for starters.

<"What infernal realm do you hail from, creature? As thine summoner, I do command thee to answer, and answer only with the truth as it pertains to the spirit of my question!">

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Aquaria had made a stunning discovery during the transfer of Deep One relics to the Freedom City museum. A stone tablet imbued with protective power held an intricate map carved long before the stone was enchanted. It showed the way to an ancient city built as a refuge by the Serpents in the early days of their forgotten empire. Tharask had been a glimmering pearlescent jewel in the crown of the Serpent Empire, a place where song and art were the greatest skills that could be cultivated, shimmering spires reached to the cavern roof and its artificial Sun shone day and night, spreading heat and life eternal.

Then the War had swept into Sub-Terra and by Atlantean magic the false Sun seared the city until was bleached bone white, all life burned from its streets and towers. The walls of the cavern had broken, letting in the surrounding underworld sea to cover everything in icy darkness.

But the wonders remained and the legends grew.

More importantly Tharask was directly(relatively, Sub-Terra made such things hard to pin down) beneath the waters of the Great Bay.

So here she was, floating in a giant flooded cave surrounded by the spear-head tips of pallid, crumbling buildings that smelled like death. With the unmistakable lights and sounds of a Serpent ritual drawing her closer to reptilian shadows and hissing voices.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Ari

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So far, so good! Aquaria thought. This city would make a fine Deep One colony with its sun quenched by Hydra's waters - if enough fish and food could be set aside for the . Naia's colony might be reluctant to leave their oil derrick home behind, as the waters thereabout were full of good food and fine meats, but the space in the sunken city would provide room for great numbers of her people. While a Surfacer might have hopped from rooftop to rooftop, she cruised through the waters of the city in comfort, occasionally stopping to devour an eyeless fish that must have been at particular home in the darkness below. Some lights for the ones who do not hear or smell well, she thought, and food to eat, and there will be much room here.

At the sound of the Serpent ritual atop the cyclopean tower near the city's heart, she treaded water for a while, considering - thankfully not looking directly at it when that terrible flash of light echoed across the ruined metropolis. I should go talk to them. This was not a safe place for Lemurian magic, not with Surfacers with great power so close by. Floating in the water, she retracted the faceplate of her helmet and took a deep breath. In a great series of bellows clearly audible to those atop the tower, she called "THE WATER-BEARER-IN-HIS-MOUTH COMES! WHO GREETS HER!?"